1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for coordinating the operation of solar charged lighting devices in response to the timed sequencing of lighting systems powered by the electrical grid, and more particularly to directionally enabled light collectors useful in photocell switching of solar charged lighting devices focused on a selected grid powered light source.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In our current environment the use of solar lights is virtually universal, with little attention paid, however, to the over-all energy efficiencies that these very simple and trouble-free devices can provide. In its typical form the very simple solar charged light includes one or more photovoltaic cells connected to charge a battery which then powers a light when a photocell triggers a switch once the sun has set. Since both the charging and also the triggering cells respond to ambient lighting they are each typically embedded side-by-side in a single flat panel array with the various forms of this device exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 6,799,716 to Kuelbs; U.S. Pat. No. 5,570,000 to Kowalski; U.S. Pat. No. 5,101,329 to Doyle; U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,664 to Wen; and many others.
Since both the ambient light triggered switching device and also the light collecting charging array are best served by direct solar illumination these ubiquitous devices are typically deployed along the outer periphery of a residential property where they are most likely exposed to collect direct sunlight. Even in these peripheral locations, however, each such device is exposed to varying levels of sunlight exacerbated by varying levels of dust collection as well as varying intensities of reflected light and shading, resulting highly varied switching schedules as darkness begins to set in. Of course, these same variables also result in a wide range of battery charging rates and therefore the intervals of useful illumination that each solar light provides.
In consequence, the use of these solar lighting devices is typically only an adjunct to the grid powered outdoor lights that have illuminated our home entrances and rear decks as we each try to extended our active periods beyond those dictated by sunrise and sunset, an illumination system that is typically controlled by timers and the like to reduce the time intervals where solar charged lighting is needed at all. This grid powered illumination, however, is typically attached to the house structure itself, well inside the yard periphery with its lighting sources well outside the sensing angles of any surface mounted triggering photocell aligned towards the sun, thus precluding a coordinated switching response triggered by any of the grid powered lights.
Significantly, while the grid powered lighting sources are usually quite bright their individual lighting output is nonetheless far below the daylight collected by a switching photocell and a focused reflecting mechanism that inexpensively and effectively gathers a much larger portion of the light emitted by a single grid powered source and transmits this larger portion of its output directly to the photocell is therefore extensively required, and it is one such mechanism that is disclosed herein.